Commander and Human
by Juno Trevan
Summary: A SEAL commander is lost in his own mind. He hates war. He hates killing. Yet he continues. And now, he just wants to be killed.


Commander and Human  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Gunfire danced wildly across the blood stained battlefield of the once beautiful island. Gorgeous Palm trees were replaced with craters from tank shells. The magical beach's once fine grained sand was now hard, packed, and stained the color of rust.  
  
Yet, the battle continued.  
  
Our automatic rifles were much faster and stronger than the Soviet's AK-47s, yet men dropped to the sand, a surprised expression on their face delivered by the shock of their death.  
  
Everywhere around me, people were dying, not just from casualties on the Soviets, but deaths within the SEAL squadron as well.  
  
Then, there was silence. Silence from the tanks that were rolling their way down the grassy hills. Silence from the Soviet's AK-47s. Then silence from our automatic rifles. Total silence. The Soviets had surrendered. We had held them off for three days without sleep or food. The forty of us that were left rounded them up as a wolf surrounds a herd of cowering sheep.  
  
"What should we do with them, sir?" a SEAL asked me quietly.  
  
"Don't know," I responded. "Do anything you want with them except kill them. I've had enough death for a lifetime. Just do something humane.  
  
With that stated, I dropped my rifle into the sand and walked. I had no clue where I was going or what I would do when I got there.  
  
All I knew was that I wanted to get away from the death and the sorrow and the pain. All the people who had died here had wives and sons and daughters. They all had brothers and sisters and moms and dads, and they would never see them again until they met in heaven.  
  
I did not want to kill anymore. I did not want anyone else to die. I didn't want to be in charge of these forty SEAL's lives.  
  
So I walked. I had no clue where I was going. I just walked.  
  
*************************************  
  
I ended upon the southern edge of the enormous beach where the battle had not spilled. It was as if the hand of God had protected this small area of sand and sparkling grass and left it untouched.  
  
From where I was standing, I could not see the death that lay behind me, yet I knew that more would be coming soon. That pain and sorrow would be inevitable.  
  
"Beautiful isn't it?" it was more of a statement than a question.  
  
"It's been a longtime since I've seen a sunset this beautiful I whispered to Second Lutinuet Robert Nick. "Too long."  
  
"Do you want to know what we did with those Soviets, sir?"  
  
I didn't answer. I didn't need to. He would have told me anyway, so I felt no purpose to respond.  
  
"we shipped them to Washington. Ten of our SEALs are guarding them. They won't escape."  
  
I stood there gazing upon the sunset intently. It had been fifteen years since I had last stopped and taken the time to watch it set. Too long. I'd missed how the swirling of the blue and white gave way to orange and yellow and then transformed into gold and pink. I turned around and set my eyes on the sky high above the looming battlefield.  
  
The sky was as black as tar from smoke billowing from the destroyed tanks. Below on the hard ground, the black dirt was mixed with olive drab SEAL uniforms and black, red, and gray Soviet jackets and pants. It was all sloshed together with red splotches on the hard packed ground and filthy clothes.  
  
I wanted to turn around. I wanted to get away from the death and the pain, but I knew I had to be reverent towards them. Instead of turning my back, I stood and kept staring at the dead corpses.  
  
"What should we do with their weapons Juno?" Nicks short blonde hair caught the breeze and danced crazily around his head.  
  
Through them into the ocean after you break them in half. Dump all the ammunition too." I set out for the radio station. "I don't want to see anymore guns today."  
  
*************************************  
  
"Get us off this island. Please sir, send relief forces." I knew my desperate pleas were hopeless, but I continued to try anyway.  
  
"Done," came the fierce voice transmitting from the Pentagon in Washington.  
  
"What!?"  
  
"I said that we're sending relief to you. There is a special assignment for your squadron that we need you on as soon as possible."  
  
Relief passed over me as a wave passes over a downed surfer. I wanted to get away from this horrid place. I wanted to get away so badly. So badly. I wanted so badly to get away from the suffering and the hurting.  
  
"We're sending you to Cuba. Spy-Sat picked up a formidable Soviet base. Ten factories, over thirty barracks each shielding more than a hundred communist fools each, four nuclear missile silos, plus one heavily guarded research facility."  
  
My hopes instantaneously sank lower than the earth. They were a rock dropped from miles high, plummeting faster and faster towards the growing ever nearer dirt. I silently knew that there would be more bloodshed in the to near future.  
  
"You will need to infiltrate the facility, discover what they are doing, and destroy it and everything else in that forsaken base. It is crucial that you put this supply base out of commission. We believe it will severely cripple their military."  
  
I was speechless. Again I was to be thrown into battle. A puppet. I was moved wherever the president wanted me and when he was done, he left. All I was a puppet. Yet I did not resist. I did not argue or disagree or fight. I gave up. I just gave up. I actually wanted to die.  
  
So much pain. So much death. So much loss. So much suffering. So little point.  
  
I actually wanted to give up. I had so many memories. So many. Memories I did not want. Memories I could hardly bare to live with. Memories I couldn't live with.  
  
I actually wanted to die.  
  
*************************************  
  
3 Days Later.  
  
Another soldier died. A bullet wound to the chest. Another life I was responsible for gone.  
  
Relief transports arrived that morning while the water appeared leaden from debris from the terrible battle and the faint morning sunlight.  
  
200 GIs unloaded from the transports and trudged onto the muddy island soil. They were in awe at the damage that had come from the battle.  
  
Some look surprised. Others were amazed that this large scale of destruction could have happened to this beautiful island. Yet even more were scared. Frightened that this could happen again to them. That they could die just as easily as the brave soldiers before them.  
  
My platoon silently boarded one of the transports that would take them from one horrid place to another. Inside, there were two rows of makeshift seats, each row containing fifteen chairs. All but one were occupied.  
  
On my right was Second Lutinuet Robert Nick. On my left Sergeant John Corvath. The former appeared older than he had been one week ago, the latter still as young, calm, and controlled as he had always been.  
  
Corvath had long blonde hair which was braided halfway down his back. He was one of the best SEALs I had ever laid my weary eyes on.  
  
"Listen up!" I suddenly exclaimed so that everyone could hear me. It was not necessary though because not a single person was talking anyway. "Our intelligence says that we've got ourselves a Soviet supply base just four short miles from Havana, Cuba.  
  
"Our mission is to infiltrate their research lab that was detected there, observe what they are doing, and destroy the entire base."  
  
I expected questions like, How are we supposed to pull this off? Why did they choose us? How many will come back?  
  
But they didn't.  
  
That's how they were trained. They were trained to kill. They were trained to follow orders. They were trained to have no fear.  
  
The boat trip seemed to last for days, but it was really only two short hours. Two short hours since they left the pain, and two short minuets until they arrived to more.  
  
"I can hardly stand it, Corvath."  
  
"What do you mean, sir?" he answered without turning his head to look at me.  
  
"The pain and the death," I muttered, my forehead resting silently on my left hand. "The sorrow and the fear. It just isn't right."  
  
"You're absolutely correct, sir. It ain't right." He turned to look at me. "But in this war, there's going to be killing to end killing."  
  
He turned back to stare straight ahead and was silent until we arrived a minuet later.  
  
Since it was midmorning, we didn't have the cover of darkness, and shadows were rapidly disappearing into nothing as noon quickly approached.  
  
"Take cover up in the trees. We'll wait there until dark."  
  
*************************************  
  
There was only a small thud as twenty-nine SEALs dropped almost silently from the treetops aloft.  
  
The chirping of crickets covered the sound of our footsteps. We were almost undetectable.  
  
After an hour of darting from one form of cover to the next, our tiny group finally arrived at the Cuban base.  
  
"Where's Marino?" I whispered trying to find the pin-point sniper.  
  
"I'm right here, sir." A dark haired man jostled his way to the front. "Yes, sir?"  
  
"See those two towers there?" I said indicating the two massive guard towers looming over us.  
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
"There's only one guard in the left tower."  
  
"So?"  
  
"Pick him off."  
  
Marino was surprised, but he crouched into sniping position and took careful aim.  
  
There was a tiny hissing noise as a sniper bullet jettisoned from the barrel of the rifle. It hit the guards helmet and zinged backwards toward us before we had a chance to react.  
  
The smoking bullet landed at my feet and burrowed itself into several inches of soft Cuban soil.  
  
"I didn't kill him," Marino said quietly, still gazing through his Starscope. "But he won't be conscious for several hours."  
  
"Are you sure?" Nick asked.  
  
"Are you kidding? He would have been better off putting a large pot over his head and having someone hit it with a sledge hammer. He'll be out cold for hours."  
  
"Good," I said. "Follow me." I crouched silently in the brush and dashed towards the entrance.  
  
Click! I cocked my rifle.  
  
Click! Click! Click! The others followed my lead.  
  
We stormed through the entrance and entered the massive doorway of the research facility.  
  
"All right," I began when we were all safely inside. "Corvath and I will take care of the research. Nick, your in charge. Set C4 on all structures that you happen to see. Set all charges for fifteen minuets. GO!"  
  
Corvath and I raced down a corridor while the twenty seven other SEALs planted C4 to their heart's content.  
  
"Fifteen minuets Trevan," Corvath panted as they rounded a corner. "That's all we've got."  
  
"I know," I said as I stopped at a door. "Here, this is it."  
  
Corvath kicked it in. I looked at him strangely, turned the knob, and closed it behind us.  
  
We frantically searched for any papers that would tell us what they were doing here.  
  
Corvath snatched another document and glanced over it. "This is it. And you won't believe it."  
  
"What?" I asked dropping my papers.  
  
"It's a post office. A soviet post office that specially delivers letters from soldiers to their families."  
  
I sighed. "Remind me not to trust Spy Sat anymore."  
  
Boom! A muffled explosion shook the ground. Corvath and I exchanged fearful glances.  
  
"Sir!" came Nick's exasperated voice from over the radio. "Sir! There was a malfunction in one of the bombs! We lost two men and there's Soviets pouring out of barracks like water from a pitcher!"  
  
"Hold 'em off!" I yelled as Nick grabbed our rifles and tossed mine to me.  
  
Again there was going to be pain and death. Again I was unwillingly thrown into it all. Again I was forced to kill.  
  
And again, I wanted to die.  
  
*************************************  
  
BAMBAMBAM! Bullets jumped across the walls of the corridor. One caught a Soviet in the arm and he fell over clutching it and whimpering. Another hit his gun and it shattered rendering it totally useless.  
  
I ducked back behind a corner, reloaded, and charged back into the battle.  
  
BAMBAMBAM! Three shots fired. Three Soviets fell.  
  
"Now, is the time to kick in doors," I said as I rammed my boot into the exit door.  
  
Five surprised Soviets turned around only to stare into the depthless cold black barrels of our weapons. They dropped their guns but were shot from behind by Nick.  
  
We sprinted across the field to him. "All C4 planted?" I asked  
  
"Yep"  
  
"AHH!" Men cried out in pain as they were shot and killed. There were more Soviets falling, but SEALs were taken out as well.  
  
"Trevan! RUN!" Corvath pushed me out of the way just as a sniper bullet pelted the ground where I was standing a split second before.  
  
"SNIPER!" I yelled scrambling to the entrance.  
  
"Not any more," Marino said as he took aim.  
  
There was a flash from his rifle as death rocketed towards the concealed sniper. A second later, the Soviet fell off the tower he was perched upon and plummeted towards the ground.  
  
"Got him!" Marino shouted gloriously.  
  
Machine gun fire suddenly began stitching across the ground towards the rejoicing sniper.  
  
"Marino! Get out of the way!" I sprinted towards him as fast as I could. The machine gun bullets sped towards him.  
  
50 feet.  
  
40 feet.  
  
30 feet.  
  
"Marino!"  
  
"What!?" He suddenly saw suddenly saw the fire and stumbled backwards, tripping over his own boot. He fell to the ground.  
  
"Marino!" I grabbed him, rolled, and felt a searing pain in my side. He picked me up and helped me stumble to the exit. Nick and Corvath grabbed my arms and dragged me the rest of the way.  
  
"Tell the… them to… retreat," I said with much effort.  
  
"It's okay Juno. You were hit with a bullet but you'll be fine. Just don't talk."  
  
"Tell… please… get…""  
  
"Juno! Stop talking!"  
  
"RETREAT!" Nick yelled over the gunfire. The seventeen SEALs that were left ran to the exit. They just made it.  
  
BOOM! All of the C4 went off and the base erupted into giant glistening streaks of red and orange.  
  
More death. More pain. More suffering.  
  
*************************************  
  
Nick and Corvath dragged me into the trees where we were hidden. Three men stood guard while everyone else stood and watched our medic, Alex May, perform first aid on me.  
  
Everyone else who had been injured was dead.  
  
Well? I thought. This is what I wanted isn't it? To die? The funny thing is, after all the killing and murder and death and pain, I felt sick and wanted to die. Now that I had my chance, I didn't want to. I wanted to live. I wanted to live so badly.  
  
"There was so much," I stammered quietly. "So much pain, agony, sorrow, murder, defeat. So much. And yet, there was so little point. Please… tell my wife that I love her. I always will. Tell that to her. Please…"  
  
My final words spoken, I knew I could not go on any longer.  
  
*************************************  
  
I stood there looking at him. Marino was crying, muttering that it was all his fault, that he should be down there leaning lifelessly against the tree.  
  
Nick just should in shock at what had just happened. Finally, he spoke. "Come on. Let's get out of this place."  
  
He gave a sharp salute to our dead captain, and everyone followed in suit. A moment later, he lowered his arm, turned, and walked away.  
  
*************************************  
  
6 Months Later  
  
Juno's wife sat crying on the couch. "He's really gone?"  
  
"Yes," I said. "His last words were: there was so much. So much pain, agony, sorrow, murder, defeat. So much. And yet there was so little point. Please… tell my wife that I love her, and I always will."  
  
She was silent.  
  
"Are you okay?" I asked.  
  
"John? Do you thing he would want me to go on without him?"  
  
I pondered that question for a moment before I answered.  
  
"Yes. Yes I do." 


End file.
